Watching The Detectives

Keira Knightley Joins the True Detective Season 2 Casting Race

With Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn locked into the leads and Taylor Kitsch rumored to confirm any day now, the remaining mystery of True Detective Season 2 is that elusive female lead. Farrell, Vaughn, and Kitsch have been the frontrunners for awhile now, but no one female name has emerged out of a pack that has included Elisabeth Moss, Rachel McAdams, Rosario Dawson, Jessica Biel, and more. Well, add one more name to the pile. Buried deep in their True Detective coverage yesterday, Deadline dropped this bit of news:

Rachel McAdams also continues to be mentioned, though she appears to
have a scheduling conflict with a movie, with Keira Knightley’s name
also entering the mix.

Is that straw a little thin? It sure is, but we’re happy to grasp at it. Unless you count a voice in the recent Neverland mini-series (we don’t), Knightley hasn’t done television since the very beginning of her career. That energy of cinematic star power on TV may be exactly what True Detective Season 2 needs to electrify its female lead. Whoever is cast already has an uphill battle considering the male-heavy Season 2 cast and claims of misogyny that dog the HBO show. Season 1’s lone female player, Michelle Monaghan, has pushed back against the show’s macho reputation. She recently told Vanity Fair:

I really thought that that was just such a misguided criticism. I kept
waiting and [saying] ‘O.K., just keep watching, just keep watching.’ I
thought people might view it differently after they saw the season as
a whole.

But the question of gender politics still remains at the forefront with True Detective so, for better or worse, the casting of this role feels crucial to the success of the show as a whole. And Knightley could certainly pull off a role that has been described as “a Monterey sheriff with a troubled past that has led her to a gambling and alcohol addiction.” You think Knightley, who is best known for her corset-heavy roles, doesn’t have what it takes to play rough and damaged? Think again. What, you didn’t see Domino?

True, Knightley wouldn’t have been my first choice. Elisabeth Moss was an early favorite because of her stellar work on Top of the Lake and Rosario Dawson, the only non-white actor in the running for any of the four leads, remains an alluring prospect. But Knightley and her movie-star charisma (which outshines not only Dawson, but also Farrell and Vaughn) may be just the thing to even the playing field.